Former Manchester United and England star Jesse Lingard endured a mixed day with FC Seoul as he scored a penalty and missed one.
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Clubs could now try to poach a “rising” Arsenal figurehead who is absolutely “key” for manager Mikel Arteta, according to reliable Gunners journalist Charles Watts.
The north Londoners, still hopeful of their first Premier League title in 21 years, have certainly rediscovered their best form since returning from the international break.
Arsenal could eclipse Declan Rice fee with £112m bid for "superb" forward
It would be their most expensive ever transfer.
By
Emilio Galantini
Dec 3, 2024
Their 5-2 win over West Ham at the London Stadium on Saturday put one more nail in the coffin of manager Julen Lopetegui, who is under increasing pressure, all the while making it their second straight league win by a three-goal margin.
Arsenal also thrashed Sporting Lisbon 5-1 in the Champions League this time last week, with Arsenal finding their mojo in front of goal once again and proving to everybody that they’re not out of this season’s title race.
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Arsenal’s next five Premier League games |
Date |
|---|---|
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Man United (home) |
December 4 |
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Fulham (away) |
December 8 |
|
Everton (home) |
December 14 |
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Crystal Palace (away) |
December 21 |
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Ipswich Town (home) |
December 27 |
Defender Gabriel Magalhaes opened the scoring against West Ham with a header from a set-piece, and his threat from dead-ball situations is becoming quite the reoccurring theme of his season at N5.
It was the 26-year-old’s third headed goal in the league this season – putting him level with Chris Wood and Ollie Watkins – with Arsenal set-piece coach Nicola Jover in the spotlight as a result.
Arsenal's set piece record under Nicolas Jover.
Arteta was asked whether Jover should have a goal bonus, due to his contribution in making Arsenal such a threat from set plays, and reporter Watts believes that elite clubs could even come knocking on the 43-year-old’s door.
Jover is a crucial figure behind the scenes at Arsenal, with Watts telling CaughtOffside that sides will be taking notice of him.
“I did laugh when Mikel Arteta was asked in his press conference after the West Ham game about whether Nicolas Jover should be getting a goal bonus,” said Watts.
“That would certainly be eating into Arsenal’s profits should that be the case, given the number of goals they have been scoring from set pieces over the past couple of seasons. Jover’s star is certainly rising at the moment and his reputation grows stronger with every goal Arsenal score from one of his carefully constructed routines.
“I’m sure other managers or clubs would love to lure him away to take advantage of his expertise, but I can’t imagine he would be looking to go elsewhere at the moment. He is such a key figure in Arteta’s coaching staff and you can see how much work he puts into making the team such a threat from dead ball situations.
“I loved the one against West Ham for Gabriel’s goal. It was just a bit different to the one that had worked so well against Sporting a few days earlier, but that made all the difference.
“Gabriel started just a bit deeper than he usually does. This time his starting point was from within the pack that always gathers beyond the far post, whereas against Sporting he started his run from a more central area and attacked the back post.
“It caught West Ham out and that allowed the Brazilian the space he needed to meet Bukayo Saka’s corner. It’s just such a potent weapon for Arsenal that works time and time again.”
Six weeks since Peter Moores was sacked as England coach, he speaks for the first time about his second spell in charge, where things went wrong, and banishing the “data” myth
George Dobell22-Jun-20153:26
Dobell: Moores frustrated with treatment
“Frustration” is a word that crops up often in Peter Moores’ sentences at present.He is “frustrated” that he cannot finish the job he started in rebuilding the England team. He is frustrated that he will never lead England through an Ashes series. He is “frustrated” that history appears to have repeated itself. And he is, in his words, “doubly frustrated” that his portrayal in the media differs so markedly from reality.That portrayal stems, in part, from a radio interview conducted by the BBC moments after England’s World Cup exit. In it, Moores was alleged to have said that England would need to check the “data” before coming to any conclusions about the reasons for their failure.It came to be a defining moment in his downfall. It has been used to illustrate his perceived faults: an obsession with stats and a propensity to overanalyse. England’s talented young players, it was said, were stifled by such a policy.But it never happened. As was reported by ESPNcricinfo, Moores actually said “later” in that BBC interview. But his words were misheard – an honest and understandable mistake as there was a minor microphone malfunction during the interview – and while the BBC subsequently apologised to him (at first verbally and then in writing), the error was public and the apology was private. The damage, in terms of public perception, was done.The image of Moores as stats-driven has little basis in reality. So frustrated was Nathan Leamon, England’s analyst at the World Cup, by the lack of use of his statistics that it was briefly feared he may go home. Meanwhile Paul Farbrace, Moores’ faithful deputy and the man who has recently been portrayed as a liberator of the England team, has said repeatedly that the Sri Lanka team he coached to success in the 2014 World T20 used such data far more.”I don’t have regrets. I look back with quite a lot of pride”•Getty ImagesWhile it is true Moores used the word “data” during an excellent eight-minute interview on Sky (he said “we’ll have to analyse the data”) it was in response to several detailed questions and after an initial answer that started: “Now is not the time to be analysing.”It is Moores’ frustration – that word again – at such a characterisation that has prompted him to talk now. While he remained silent the first time he was sacked as England coach, declining lucrative invitations to give his side of the story, this time he has decided to speak in an attempt to correct at least a few of the misconceptions about his period as coach. He was not paid and the only item he would not discuss is how he was sacked.While Moores will not be drawn on it – he is simply not the sort to be dragged into mudslinging – ESPNcricinfo understands that he learned of his fate after his wife read about it on Twitter and phoned him. Whatever you think of him or Paul Downton (who learned of his fate a similar way), they deserved better than that. The ECB, to its credit, apologised in private and public.He does not comment, though. He hardly ever does. When he was sacked as England coach at the start of 2009, he said nothing. When England went to No. 1 in the Test rankings in 2011, largely with players he had selected, he said nothing. When Kevin Pietersen’s book came out, he said nothing. And each day he woke up and read another column from an ex-player – usually an ex-player he had dropped during his first spell as England coach – rubbishing his methods and caricaturing his personality, he said nothing.”I have to accept my time as England coach has gone,” Moores says. “It’s pretty hard to accept. But it’s done. The umpire’s finger is up. I have to look at where I go next.”But I am frustrated. The portrayal of me as a coach in the media is just wrong. If people said ‘I don’t rate you as a coach’ then fine. But when it’s not what you are, it’s really frustrating.”I don’t know how to change that. I’ve not spent my life trying to be really good with the media; I’ve spent it trying to make players better. I still passionately want to do that.”I have an official letter from the BBC. It’s a tough one, I didn’t say it. I know what I am as a coach. I’ve done it for a long time. I’ve been in the game for 33 years and I’ve coached for 17. I know the game. And what I’ve learned is, my job is to simplify the game for players and free them up to go and play.”We moved away from stats and data. Coaching doesn’t work like that at all. You watch a lot to say a little. It’s not a numbers game. We kept it simple. We tried to give the players responsibility to lead themselves.”There is a big support staff with England. And they’re all valuable. You need the security staff, the physio and the doctor. But there are times when you just want the 11 players and two coaches to watch the game and talk about it together. We were creating that environment. We were getting there.”
“In Test terms, we felt we had turned a corner. Would I have been sacked had we won in Barbados? You’ll have to ask the people who made the decision”
The “we were getting there” phrase is another recurring theme. Moores felt his England side were on the right track. While he accepts the World Cup was wretched, there was evidence in Test cricket, that they were making progress. At the time he was sacked, England – a side containing half-a-dozen young or inexperienced players – had won four and lost one of their last six Tests.Against relatively modest opposition that is perhaps decent rather than exceptional. But Moores did inherit an England side that had just been beaten 5-0 in the Ashes and was clearly in a transitional phase. It was always going to take time.”In Test terms, we felt we had turned a corner,” Moores says. “We were getting there. Would I have been sacked had we won in Barbados? You’ll have to ask the people who made the decision. I was aware that things were building but I wasn’t expecting it.”The frustration is not being able to carry something through. When I took the job, I knew we would go through this period of trial. And transition is difficult. You will lose sometimes.”The evolution, of a team, of a player, is that you’re going to be inconsistent. You’re going to lose. But in Tests we were moving and moving quite fast. You could see it happening. Young players were developing fast. And you know there is a timeframe for that.”I’m also confident in my ability to evolve teams to become very good teams. And, given time, I’ve always gone on to be successful. And you’re not trying to be successful for a short time, but for a long time.”So to not have time to finish the job with England… I thought we were getting there. I was genuinely excited when we got back from the Caribbean.”Moores denies any mixed emotions at watching England’s improved showing against New Zealand. But it has not gone unnoticed that, just as he built the side that Andy Flower went on to lead to such success (Flower, it should be noted, was always the first to praise Moores’ contribution), he will spend the next few years seeing some of those he selected this time flourish in international cricket.It was, after all, Moores that replaced the new-ball pair of Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard with James Anderson and Stuart Broad. He installed Graeme Swann as first-choice spinner and Matt Prior as wicketkeeper. He laid many of the foundations on which Flower built.This time, his commitment to Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Gary Ballance (originally selected by Flower), Joe Root (who had been dropped by the time Moores took over) and others could have similar long-term benefits.Moores brought new faces into the England side during both spells in charge•AFP”I didn’t go into the job to get the credit,” he says. “But yes, history probably has repeated itself a bit. I’d love it if England won the Ashes. I’m an England fan.”I’ve probably debuted more players than most England coaches. You hope when you introduce players that they’ll carry on in the long term. I think we picked some good players who will become good England players over time. They’ll go through ups and down.”I know I left a united group of people – players and coaches – with a clear vision of where we were going and working towards it. I don’t have regrets. I look back with quite a lot of pride.”It seems he was rated in his second spell as England coach, in part, by the mistakes he made in his first. Famously described as “the woodpecker” by Kevin Pietersen – an image that suggests a man forever tapping away at players and, as a result, preventing them from relaxing – Moores admits he made some mistakes the first time around.”I don’t think there was any truth in the woodpecker thing, no,” he says now. “But I do think the version of me as a coach now to the version that first coached England is a better version.”I evolved quite a lot as a coach, as a player would. It’s no different. This time I knew what I was going into. You understand the real challenges for players, as you’ve been there before.”I’ve reflected on that first time. We needed to change. And I look back and think, yes, in my enthusiasm, I pushed too hard. You should allow that to happen. I wanted them to be fitter and, yes, you can push too hard.”So I knew when I came in this time, there had been mistakes made. I wanted to allow captains to evolve themselves and create a place where the players felt supported.”Part of the skill of a coach is to disappear. You’re in the room but it’s as if you aren’t. You’re not making anyone nervous. Because if you need 40 to win in four overs, nobody wants a coach who is twitchy.”Look, I’ve made loads of mistakes as a coach. But you make fewer as you learn. That side of my coaching, I know, I’ve got better.”England’s performance – or lack of it – at the World Cup does not reflect well on anyone, though. While they went into the event talking an aggressive game, they played pretty timid cricket, with Moores’ selections – Ian Bell as opener and Gary Ballance at No. 3 – contrasting starkly with the approach in the recent ODI series against New Zealand.So does he accept that either the selections were flawed or he was unable to coax the best out of the players?
“This is the first summer for 33 years I’ve not been involved in the game in a professional way. But I’m a coach, it’s what I do. I love England and I love cricket”
“In terms of selection, we got to the final of the tri-series with Ian Bell playing very well. I think he made two centuries and we made 300 against Australia. And Moeen was playing with freedom.”We moved James Taylor down the order as we felt he was a good finisher and brought Gary in as he has a very good record in limited-overs cricket. He’s a very good player. Ravi Bopara was struggling a bit and not really getting a bowl. It all felt natural at the time and we tried to stay consistent in selection.”As to getting it out of them… great players don’t always play great cricket. It didn’t happen for them. Senior players didn’t grab the game by the scruff of neck. But you learn from failure and the reaction of those players who went through it is encouraging.”But yes, I felt hollow at the end of the tournament.”The one thing Moores will not ever do is blame the players. Never, in public or private, does he seek to do so. In fact, it is notable that, on or off the record, he does not criticise anyone. Not Andrew Strauss, not Kevin Pietersen (about whom he says, “he’s a funny mix. There are things I admire”) and not Colin Graves, who was in Barbados at the time of Moores’ last Test but didn’t find the time to tell his coach he was about to be sacked. His only gripe, really, is with his public image as a stats-driven, robotic coach and the interview that may have cemented that reputation.It is notable, too, that several of the players have made their support of Moores public. Joe Root, who called him “brilliant” and praised him as knowing “how to get the best out of me”, crediting Moores for his “drastic improvement”, was the most vocal but also far from atypical. Whoever Strauss consulted before making his decision, it certainly was not the England Test squad. Many of them remain in touch with him. “Once your coach, always your coach,” Moores says with a smile. “They know they can call me.”Joe’s words were appreciated. It was brave of him to say that at that time.”And yet, after two sackings and some treatment that can only be described as shoddy, Moores says he would still work for the ECB again. While he has not yet been approached for a role at Loughborough – an organisation that is about to have a radical overhaul – it remains highly probable that he will be. His eye for young talent, his record as a developer of that talent, and his ability to impart knowledge to other coaches, remain assets.”Yes, I’d work for the ECB again,” he says. “A role at Loughborough would be exciting. I love coaching and that would be working with the best players and coaches. Yes, it appeals.”Professional sport can be cruel. Or maybe ruthless is a better word. You know that when you go into it. You are immersed in it.”His fault, as much as it is one, was his inability to play the media or political game. His failure to understand that style is as important as substance when it comes to selling yourself to the public. His failure to understand the dark side of the organisation that had employed him.While a perception that he was closely aligned to an unattractive ECB regime – the regime of Downton and Giles Clarke that talked of people being “outside cricket” – no doubt hurt him, his main fault may well have been simply being a decent man in an increasingly indecent world. A man who thought that, if he worked hard, planned for the future and forged a strong relationship, it would be enough.And that’s the lasting impression of Moores. For whatever you think of his coaching – his international record is modest; his county and development record excellent – as a man, he has a dignity that is rare in professional sport.A sense of perspective, too. After England lost to India at Lord’s last summer, Moores was asked if he was at “rock bottom”. His reply – “who knows what rock bottom is, but it isn’t losing a cricket match” – sums him up better than anything else he said in his period at the helm. Even after his second sacking, he found a positive. “If feels as if I’ve got my wife and kids back,” he said.Following this interview, he went to see his son, Tom, a hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman, play for Nottinghamshire seconds against Warwickshire. The sacking has hurt, but he will cope. “A glass of wine helps,” he says.”I don’t put this on,” he says as the interview draws to a close. “I don’t know if it’s from my mum or what. But I am a calm person who can see the value of looking at people in their best light. It was such a slanging match last time. There were so many opinions. And so much of it was wrong. I didn’t want to get involved. It’s all so easy to do that. I’m not going down that route.”I’ve been offered book deals, but it’s not who I am. And if I did one, I would want it to be things I’ve learned and stories to help people get the best out of themselves and others. I have to be true to what I am. There’s not a lot of mileage in negativity, you know.”Of course it’s been tough. This is the first summer for 33 years I’ve not been involved in the game in a professional way. But I’m a coach. It’s what I do. I love England and I love cricket. The game doesn’t owe me anything. It’s been great fun working in it. And the hunger… it’s just starting to come back.”
RB Leipzig have held initial talks with Jobe Bellingham as they are determined to sign the Sunderland star in the summer.
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Two of the ODIs Ireland were supposed to play in Sri Lanka were replaced by a Test, allowing them to make the switch
ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2023Paul Stirling will join Ireland’s Test squad in Sri Lanka, and be available for selection for the second Test.Stirling, who went back to Ireland from Bangladesh after the white-ball leg of the series, and will miss the one-off Test starting on April 4, has become available for Test cricket following alterations in Ireland’s schedule. Stirling explained to the last week that he had opted to sit out of Ireland’s Test commitments this year to give himself a chance to rest amid a “jam-packed” 2023 schedule, but left scope for his plans to “change or evolve” in the way they now have.Ireland’s tour to Sri Lanka initially consisted of a Test and two ODIs, but the hosts’ attempt to get more red-ball experience led to the two ODIs being replaced by an extra Test. Both the Tests will be played in Galle between April 16 and 28.
1st Test – April 16-20, Galle
2nd Test – April 24-28, Galle
“Paul was originally set to join the squad in Sri Lanka for the ODI series that was originally planned. However, with those fixtures now converted to a Test match, and the scheduled Bangladesh T20I series in Ireland postponed, he will now have a greater focus on red-ball cricket and will join the Test squad for that second Test,” Andrew White, Cricket Ireland’s national men’s selector, said in a statement.Stirling, who has played all three Tests Ireland have played to date – all in 2018 and 2019 – is one of Ireland’s busiest cricketers, playing in various short-format franchise leagues around the world.Stirling’s presence will certainly add a lot of experience to Ireland’s line up. For the Dhaka Test against Bangladesh, their squad has nine uncapped players, of whom three have never played first-class cricket. There are also only four survivors from their last Test.
Tottenham Hotspur could be minus one player in the January transfer window, as he looks at alternative clubs to join via his entourage.
On the field, Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou is preparing his side to face-off against Premier League champions Man City at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon.
Tottenham eyeing January move for another £117k-per-week Real Madrid player
The Lilywhites have already been linked with Arda Guler, but there is a second Galactico on their radar.
By
Emilio Galantini
Nov 22, 2024
It’s been a mixed start to the season for Tottenham, who have displayed real inconsistency so far, but City’s own slump in form provides some encouragement for Postecoglou – who’s looking to galvanise a consistent run of form from his Lilywhites side.
“It’s always tough. You’re playing City at their place [and they have] got a pretty imposing record there,” said Postecoglou on Tottenham’s trip to Man City.
“Our four losses have been away from home. It’s always a great test, great challenge for us, for sure, to go there and disrupt things again and hopefully put some pressure on them. But we know it’s never an easy task.
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Tottenham’s next five Premier League games |
Date |
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Man City vs Tottenham |
November 23 |
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Tottenham vs Fulham |
December 1 |
|
Bournemouth vs Tottenham |
December 5 |
|
Tottenham vs Chelsea |
December 8 |
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Southampton vs Tottenham |
December 15 |
“We’re definitely a better side than last year. [That is what] you are looking for first, to progress as a football team. Within that context, a lot of our players are also developing more but obviously the results haven’t reflected that which is a major part. You want to improve your standing within the game and our results haven’t reflected that. I’m still bullish and positive about our progress as a team. We’ve just got to push on now to get that consistency.”
As Postecoglou prepares his side for the trip to Eastlands, murmurs continue to surround left-back Sergio Reguilon and his immediate future at N17, with the Spaniard yet to play a single minute in all competitions this season.
The £120,000-per-week defender (MEN) has been selected in just one matchday squad this term as well, which came in their trip to Coventry City in the Carabao Cup, and there are suggestions that Reguilon could terminate his Tottenham contract before it expires next summer.
According to Spanish media, Reguilon’s agents are looking to find him a new club away from Tottenham, and his departure seems “imminent” as the January window approaches.
Getafe are viewed as real candidates to sign the defender and give him a permanent new lease of life, with Reguilon spending the entirety of last season on loan spells at Man United and Brentford.
The 27-year-old’s return to La Liga is a serious possibility heading into 2025, but wherever the player ends up, Reguilon’s Tottenham career is well and truly behind him – despite originally being tipped to shine.
“I’ve been an admirer of Reguilon for some time,” said pundit Noel Whelan in 2021 to Football Insider.
“He really stamped his authority on the game and grabbed the winner to show what a quality player he is.”
Australia selector Tony Dodemaide has defended the presence of injured players in the squad
Alex Malcolm17-Feb-20234:59
Chappell: Cummins being the only pacer in the XI is a ‘hell of a gamble’
Australia’s selectors have backflipped on their decision to leave out Travis Head in Nagpur by selecting him in Delhi because of his bowling ability. Matthew Kuhnemann has also leap-frogged Ashton Agar to make his Test debut as Australia select three specialist spinners and one fast bowler for the first time since 2017 with Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc both ruled unfit.Australia’s selector on tour Tony Dodemaide spoke to the media shortly before the toss in Delhi to explain the selectors’ decision-making. Having left Head out in Nagpur as a horses-for-courses selection due to his poor batting record on the subcontinent, and his struggles at the training camp in Bengaluru, Dodemaide explained that Head had been included in Delhi at the expense of Matt Renshaw because Australia felt they were missing a fifth bowling option in Nagpur.”Renners is really stiff,” Dodemaide said. “There’s no slight on him. He’s very much a valued player in our team planning moving forward. He was quite stiff, particularly in the first innings [in Nagpur]. So he hasn’t been dropped for those performances.”The key thing where we see the difference this time around is that Heady does offer quite a valuable option as a fifth bowler and that’s where we felt we were stretched in parts of the game in Nagpur and that fifth bowling option is something that we value, albeit another spinner. But we expect spin to dominate in any case.”
Kuhnemann’s Test debut has come in extraordinary circumstances. Last week he was playing his first first-class match since October for Queensland at the MCG in Melbourne, having been biding his time as the second Queensland spinner behind Mitchell Swepson in their Sheffield Shield side.Kuhnemann was not selected in the initial India tour squad but flew into Delhi on Sunday as Swepson went home for the birth of his first child. Agar was picked as Australia’s second spinner in the XI in Sydney in the last home Test before the India tour and as the preferred left-arm orthodox spinner in the touring party.But Agar’s performance in Sydney against South Africa, and at the training camp in Bengaluru, meant that he was not a viable option to be picked in the first or second Test.”His red-ball game is not quite where he wants it to be,” Dodemaide said. “Matt Kuhnemann has come over and impressed. He got a chance in Sri Lanka, albeit in limited-overs form, he’s played well in domestic cricket this season and he’s impressed us in the nets. We just feel his style at the moment is more suited to these conditions.”Matthew Kuhnemann played 13 first-class matches before making his Test debut in Delhi•Getty Images
Kuhnemann made a similar shock ODI debut last year in Sri Lanka when Adam Zampa missed the tour on paternity leave.Australia have opted to not pick a second pace bowler for the first time since Chittagong in 2017 when Pat Cummins was the lone quick alongside Agar, Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe, although on that occasion that did have Hilton Cartwright’s medium pace.Boland was arguably Australia’s second-best bowler in Nagpur behind Todd Murphy but only bowled 17 overs for the Test. Australia’s selectors believe the conditions in Delhi make a second quick surplus to requirements.”It’s a bit unusual going the three spin and one quick,” Dodemaide said. “We feel the pitch here, the conditions, we feel that spin will dominate the game once again and from what we understand this pitch has been used three times already this year and there’s already substantial cracking in the areas where most of the game is going to be played. That’s the reason for going for the three spinners. The fifth bowler is important too.”We don’t have the seam bowling option of Cam on the table quite yet. We’re very confident and hope he’s continuing to progress and we expect him to be available for the third Test in Indore. That’s the context around selection for this one.”
Dodemaide defended the selectors’ decision to bring three players on tour who are not fit enough to be selected in the first two Tests. Josh Hazlewood is still battling an Achilles issue while Green and Starc were pushing to be fit for the second Test but neither were quite right with their respective finger injuries despite training fully on Wednesday.”We brought them over in the expectation they’d be available,” Dodemaide said. “Starcy and Greeny didn’t quite come up for this one. We fully expect them to be online for the third one.”Certainly if [Starc] was 100% we would have had a serious conversation about the bowling structure, about two [quicks] and two [spinners] as opposed to one [quick] and three [spinners]. Certainly, it’s great balance if you’ve got that seam bowling without shortening the batting with Greeny being available. That’s not the case and we deal with what you’ve got.”Cam’s been going through his return to play stuff. He hasn’t really completed all of what he was intended to do. He still hasn’t faced quick bowlers. He hasn’t done a lot of catching as well. He’s trained for quite some time. But there’s just enough reaction and discomfort there that it’s just not ready.”
ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2015Stuart Broad finally found some form with the bat during a lusty 46, which helped England add 83 runs for the last two wickets and finish on 350, level on first innings•Getty ImagesBroad picked up where he left off with the ball and took two wickets in his opening spell•Getty ImagesRoss Taylor decided attack was the best form of defence, hitting 48 from 48 balls during a 99-run stand for the third wicket•Getty ImagesMartin Guptill was also in attacking mood and went past 50…•Getty Images…but became Mark Wood’s second wicket shortly before tea. At that stage, New Zealand’s lead was 141 with six wickets standing•Getty ImagesBrendon McCullum was a little more watchful than usual, ensuring England would not find a way back into the match•Getty ImagesBJ Watling and McCullum both recorded fifties during a stand worth 121•Getty ImagesWood picked up his third wicket when he trapped McCullum lbw, despite a review•PA PhotosEngland also removed Luke Ronchi but Watling reached his hundred in the penultimate over and remained unbeaten at the close, with New Zealand’s lead 338 – a higher target than England have ever successfully chased•Getty Images
Real Madrid are reportedly keen to add Real Sociedad midfielder and Arsenal target Martin Zubimendi to their squad in the summer transfer window.
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Leeds United centre-forward Mateo Joseph is a good example of how difficult it is to translate regular goalscoring from academy level to the first team.
The 21-year-old ace, who joined from Espanyol at the start of 2022, scored an eye-catching 19 goals in 33 games for the Whites at U21 level.
However, the Spain U21 international has only found the back of the net five times in 47 appearances for the club since his rise to the first-team, with two goals in 15 Championship games this season.
He has made the step to the senior team, though, and has time on his hands to fulfil his potential, which was not the case for one former Leeds youngster who initially arrived with plenty of hype around him.
Leeds swooped to sign a teenage centre-forward from Barcelona in the summer of 2017 after he had scored 30 goals in 30 league games for the Spanish giants at academy level in the 2016/17 campaign.
If you haven’t guessed already, that player was none other than Kun Temenuzhkov.
The Guardian named him as one of the 60 best young talents in world football in 2017 and wrote that the striker had ‘the same predator’s instinct’ as former Barcelona and Liverpool sensation Luis Suarez, who was idolised by the youngster and scored 195 goals in 283 games for the LaLiga outfit.
It is not hard to understand why that comparison was made after such an incredible year of goalscoring for the Spanish side in the previous season.
After playing for the Leeds’ U18 side for 18 months, Temenuzhkov made his first-team debut for Leeds against Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup in January 2019, with an 11-minute cameo off the bench under Marcelo Bielsa.
Given his extraordinary goal record for Barcelona’s youth teams, his comparison to Suarez, and his senior bow under Bielsa, you could forgive the Whites for thinking that they had their own version of the Uruguayan hero on their hands.
Where Are They Now
Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast's Where Are They Now series.
Unfortunately, though, after loan spells with CF La Nucía and Real Union during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 campaigns, the Bulgarian centre-forward was released by the Whites in the summer of 2022, having failed to live up to the hype.
The young marksman made the move to join Navalcarnero in the fourth tier of Spanish football and scored eight goals in 29 league games during the 2023/24 campaign.
He then spent six months with Zamora CF, scoring just one goal in ten games, before moving to Lincoln FC in Gibraltar at the start of 2023.
Temenuzhkov produced six goals and three assists in 15 appearances for Lincoln during the second half of last season, before a free transfer to Moscardó in the summer transfer window earlier this year.
It was the fourth free transfer since the start of 2022 for the 24-year-old attacker, who has been unable to enjoy more than one season with a club since his exit from Leeds.
Moscardó currently play in the fourth tier of Spanish football and the ex-Whites and Barcelona man has had a difficult start to the campaign, with zero goals and one assist in eight league matches.
Temenuzhkov is yet to replicate his sensational goalscoring output at academy level in his first-team career and Leeds will now be hoping that Joseph, who has already played 46 more times for Leeds than the Bulgarian forward did, fares better in his development over the coming years.
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By
Dan Emery
Nov 11, 2024